Zephyrus the Priestess

THUD "OhArceusI'msosorrycrapcraplemmepickthemup" rapped out a rather surprised Raiza as she scrambled to catch any of the goods that might have fallen from the table, although Rogue caught most of the items. When the Trainer looked up, she recognized the helmet of a Cubone, and behind him an red-haired boy and her childhood friend. Looking down she realized that she (and Rogue) held in her hands (and the Sneasel's han... paws) little wooden statues. "Oh, I'm here, finally, pon. Sorry about the ruckus," the Trainer said, bowing to the stallowner and his customers both, placing the statues back on the display.

So yeah, hit me with your comments and questions here. This is actually a short story that I wrote on Facebook totally not based on my life inspired by the lyrics of "MacArthur's Park" by Jimmy Webb and popularized by Richard Harris in (insert year here). Here's the song if you haven't heard it: Any resemblances to living or deceased persons are entirely coincidental and unintentional. This was originally supposed to be a series of stories buuuuut I'm a lazy arse and I tend to lose inspiration quickly so I decided to make it into a one-shot type of story lol.

Spring was never waiting for us, girl It ran one step ahead As we followed in the dance. The city was alive, even at this very hour of night: LED lights glowed on every street block and every gigantic TV display on the skyscrapers; people flowed in and out of various establishments that still seemed to remain full, regardless of how many people exited; cars beeped along the way, riders and drivers rushing to get to places, or simply enjoying a joyride; and with the heartbeat of the city, music melded along with the unsilenceable chatterings of citizens and tourists everywhere in a beautiful, disconcerting cacophony of noises. It was also the month of February, and for the month, the city was dressed in red and pink hearts and cut-outs of winged babies wielding bows and arrows. Almost every advertisment showed off a seductive new fragrance or an impossibly beautiful young woman flaunting yet another unreasonably expensive set of clothing or jewelry, promising to tug at the hearts of young men everywhere. The frigid, cool kiss of winter ever did little to quench the passion of the season. Amidst groups of friends or lonely singles looking to drown their sorrows by intoxication sat a young woman in a leather jacket, at a bar. Elizabeth downed her glass of water and looked at the cabinet of wines, beers, and vodka behind the barista, who busied himself with mixing drinks for patrons. Smooth jazz music danced in the air and into her ears, which had set her into a calm, almost drunk state. "What the heck am I doing in a bar," she thought, "when I hate alcohol?" The barista, having run out of glasses to fill for the moment, looked down at her contemptuously, as she was half-slumped on the bar table. "Look, lady, if you aren't going to order anything worth paying for, you should just scram. What am I running, a charity watering hole?" Elizabeth looked up at the young man- looking to only be twenty- gruffly, and headed to the door, no longer feeling tipsy. It wasn't like she didn't have anything witty to say in retort; she just felt it undignified to trouble a kid trying to earn some pay. She was twenty-six; she should know better. Mounting a shiny, black-and-white Harley that was waiting out on the sidewalk, Elizabeth took to the road, squeezing past cars stuck in traffic jam, without any particular destination in mind. Her inner autopilot took her past the entrance of Central Park. For a few seconds, she stopped and peered through her helmet to see the inside of the park, before rolling her eyes and finally deciding to go on home. "Nice one, brain. Central Park. At this time of year. Great choice, there," she mumbled irritably, to nobody but herself in particular. Central Park melted away in the dark as Elizabeth drove to her home reluctantly, where she lived alone. It was two in the morning when Elizabeth turned over and checked her phone for the nth time as she lay down underneath the covers of her bed. The husky hadn't stirred at all from his slumber next to her, and continued to breathe and dream in peace. He didn't move either when his owner kicked her feet up in the air, causing the blankets to sprawl out all over his body, and leave the darkened, moonlit room. Elizabeth sat down in front of the fireplace, stabbing an oreo cheesecake with a fork and chewing small bites. Her long, naturally messy chestnut hair cascaded in waves all over her back and shoulders, and even stuck up at some uneven points. The firey red orange of the flames bounced off the short, yellow, cotton nightdress she wore- not that there was anybody to take note of how she looked, sitting on the carpet in front of the fireplace, as she was all by herself at home, save for her beloved dog. She glanced at her phone again. It remained dormant, its screen void of any notifications or beeping lights. "Sure, like ten years would change anything," she thought. She bit her lip and gave up on the cheesecake altogether, despite the fact that it was her favorite cake. It was tasteless in her mouth. "So much can happen in a day... That's just crap, for me. It's been ten long years and still..." She felt the familiar stinging sensation in her eyes and laughed. "It's like the stupid stories that I hate so much. Bad break-ups, wounds that never heal... All that typical trash," she said to herself, hoarsely. Being a writer herself, she hated writing stories and poems that went the same way as most popular works. "So why the hell is this still happening to me? Hell, why do I still even care?" She grabbed her phone again and tapped the button on it with unnecessary force, causing the screen to light up. "Do I always have to text you first? To apologize first?" Elizabeth snapped at the phone, as if it could hear her. For ten years, she'd spurned the advances of those who used to be her friends and those who admired her from afar alike. Along with that, her closest friends had all but become busy with their own lives, some even living lives similar that of those in the stories she disliked so much. Sure, she had the support of her family... Her family, whom she had to leave in order to chase her ambition and further develop her career. The nonchalance she had in the beginning had begun to fall apart within a matter of minutes ten years ago, when she'd ended it. That being said... She may have ended and severed the tie that kept her down, but it never ended. That is, her worrying and all that. She couldn't completely get past glancing at her phone all the time, or imagining something terrible happening, or even feeling like everything was her fault, or... Feeling the exhilaration one gets from feeling and knowing that they were loved. Feeling a gentle, warm hand in or holding hers. Being held tightly. Not being alone. As much as she hated being tied down, she hated being alone... But instead of cancelling each other out, they'd just made her feel worse. And after all the loves of my life Oh, after all the loves of my life I'll be thinking of you- and wondering why. Funny how it was her first... But damn, it hurt so badly that even if she longed to be rid of the emptiness, she just couldn't move on without a pang of pain from her conscience- she felt like the entire schbang of emotions and pain would repeat in the same exact way, that she'd just end up tearing down a man instead of building him up once more. She'd had enough of that; she never even intended for it to go that way. And she knew very well that there was no more continuation for that first romance, unlike in most stories. Heck, the reason she'd ended it in the first place... Was to put a stop to the pain and burden that she felt she had become. For the tenth time in a row, since that hurtful day, when she thought she'd be free from worrying... Elizabeth sat alone in front of her fireplace, on Valentine's Day. Because there's no rest for the wicked; physically, and apparently, mentally and emotionally. MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark Oh sweet green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain And I don't think that I can take it Because it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again. ... Oh, no...

<3

... x: oh. should I take it down yeah I probably should take it down.

reminds me of

Here y'go, Mael, see if you like it lol.

And the sources of the roars showed themselves like Gandalf approaching with his back-up army. Dragons! ... Dragons. Hungry-looking dragons. ... Oh, shit. Nope. Not Gandalf at all. Wait. They had an Ice type. "Uh, hi again, miss," Zephyr said again to the Dewgong. "If you're feeling up to it, I think these landsharks are totally go for a pretty snowscape. What say you?" In the meantime, Chaos and Cerberus steeled themselves for the incoming Dragons-- especially Cerberus. Sun is good, sun is love for Fire types, but Earthquakes weren't fun at all. "Let's take these little runts off the menu first, why don't we?" he snarled. "No, wait-- their parents are probably going to act as back up. We've got to take them out first." Glancing at the Dark type with dissent, he then looked up at his Trainer. Whatever she thought, he'd follow her call. Pancake looked at the Gible and Garchomp horde and hissed, as was his natural reaction. They were probably coming to eat him and take his water too.

And I love your song choice here too. Have you heard of Neko and Noir's duet of this song? It's my favorite version. C:

... I think I like being a loose cannon crazy kid now.

getitawaygetitawaygetitawayGETITAWAYFROMMESTOPSTOPSTOP Although whatever intruding entity had stopped peering into Enya's soul, the feeling of being invaded, the abnormal fear of Whoever was looking in-- everything that just felt horribly unpleasant and frightening lingered-- no, not just lingered, but seemed to haunt the child. Enya ran blindly, clutching Ace tightly and protectively, chanting "nonononononononononononogoawaygoaway" over and over as if it were a mantra that would protect her from the Presence. Before she knew it and without realizing it, she had run past the mister who was carrying her while she was sick. ((Ethic, you've been chosen by Legion!))

"Ah-- so I'm being put against... Oh, okay," Raiza said, deflated. The haughty and loud girl. What a pain. And what time was this battle royale going to begin? What if her parents saw-- dear Arceus, they were probably going to pull her out of the Trainer program. Or worse, the Academy. Occupied with those thoughts, the Trainer didn't notice that she was headed straight for the wood carving stall, oblivious to Lucifer hurtling off to see Lana then the new girl, Toothless and Rogue trying to stop her from walking into the stall, or Achlyx just... Being Achlyx, looking at all the people with animosity.

Etesian

because they don't

OH DIOS MIO ARKHI I LOVE YOU FOR THIS THEME.<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Though you flatter me with choosing that song for me... I'm not sure at all if I'm like that XD

So, team update: Lucifer oh my god Litwick's sprite is so adorable look at it all bouncy and shit Level: 25 > Flame Burst > Confuse Ray > Energy Ball > Clear Smog - Calm Mind - Minimize Rogue Level: 24 > Ice Punch > Feint Attack > Aerial Ace > Icy Wind - Agility - Hone Claws Toothless Level: 25 > Earth Power > Fire Fang > Crunch > Dragonbreath - Screech - Thunder Wave Achlyx Level: 16 > Pin Missile > Pursuit > Poison Tail > Bite - Acupressure - Screech Let me know if you guys have qualms about my updated movesets. By the way, if anybody wants to be there when Raiza loses her marbles over her parents arriving, let me know lol. At the time being she's just wandering aimlessly.

Training, training, training. There was much to be done, much to cover, especially after that loss to James. When Lucifer woke up, he flew into a mini-tantrum, until Raiza placated him with the prospect of improving... and his favorite Pokeblock, for effort. The Winter Cup was coming up; not only that, but Raiza couldn't put off how Kage's vision seemed to took place in a snowy place. Even if Professor Cadmus said that the drawing didn't look like the Academy, it was still a pretty debatable point; after all, she wasn't the one who had the vision and only rendered her own personal interpretation of what the Trainer told her. Well that and she sucked at drawing inorganic things, particularly buildings. Obviously Lucifer and Toothless both were most pressed to improve and level, still burning over the loss. There was no way the Litwick was going to let Raiza down again; there was no way the Deino was going to lose so easily again. Meanwhile, Rogue watched both her teammates consumed with gusto to overcome themselves within the short amount of time. It did annoy her, the fact that they got beat down this time, but what worried or astounded her more was the amount of effort that the two put into training. If they didn't slow down a little bit, they could tire themselves or hurt themselves, even. Similarly, Achlyx did her best, though she wondered what it was other than pride that drove the others to push themselves; it'd only been a short while that she was with the Heatmor, Raiza, so evidently she still didn't completely understand much of this hullabaloo. And then, one day after an intense day of training and putting up with going to the gym areas for once, Raiza remembered, with much anxiety and oh crap feelings that her parents would be visiting. ~~~~~ ... But, until her parents did arrive, Raiza decided she'd go around and see what her schoolmates' stalls were all about. Lana had gone off to help Mareek out at his stall-- what was it she said again, that they were selling wood carvings? Maybe she'd head on that way. "Come on, let's see what they've all got to offer, pon," she said with a smile, her whole team walking with her, excited for a break in training. With her hand in her pocket, ready to feel her phone vibrate in case her parents texted that they were inside the gates, she walked around aimlessly.

So team update on the way, and does anybody want me over at their stall? Otherwise I'll just have Raiza visit and patronize every single stall lol. Also, momma and papa are going to be displeased when they find out she got into the Trainer program after all. I think.

/theme 'Kuna-sensei, I'm honored to possibly share a theme with Graterras. It's exciting to be part of this new world with new lore and beauty to behold, really. Stuff like this gets me going for hours and hours, and it's fun that I get to actually discuss it with the writer and author. XD I also love how my theme from Uncle Jerry is the song that he would post whenever I was guessed in Predict the Next Person to Post. I think I'll keep this song somewhere. c:

Oh wow, I was demanded for two posts. c: Corner, you comin' around?

whilst stepping on

Hold up.. Lemme check if I replied. EDIT: Yup, I have. I'll wait for the next update XD

When they'd walked off the field, Toothless popped out of his Pokeball and rasped and cried out to Raiza. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, I just don't want you guys to get too hurt," she explained, sitting on a smooth boulder not too far from Danielle, though she didn't notice it herself. At the moment she just didn't want to strain Toothless with walking since it looked like he wasn't about to give up. True enough, the little dragon wasn't letting up; why were they just giving up? Lucifer had given his all, and so had he. Now they were just letting this other Trainer go. "... We'll get him next time and we'll get even better, okay? I promise." Still pouting a little bit, the Deino accepted the Cheri his Trainer offered him and sat by her feet, chewing the spicy berry slowly. But wow, what a bummer. It'd been a while since she'd lost... Though it wasn't really losing she hated. She considered her team to be well... The most precious peo-- Pokemon that there were in existence. The effort they put into training, all washed down just like that. "Snee." Rogue watched as her Trainer look down at her-- apparently she hadn't noticed that, along with the Skorupi, the Sneasel'd come out of her Pokeball for some air and to check on her teammates. Huh... so Lucifer was asleep, after all. Knowing him, he must've put up quite a fight... the sentient candle wasn't one to give up easily. Raiza, on the other hand... the Dark-Ice type put a paw on her Trainer's knee. "Snee, snee." A smile-- at least, whatever a Sneasel could come up with to smile and not smirk-- spread on her lips reassuringly. "Y-Yeah. He'll... he'll be okay, Rogue." Oh, boy-- wow, what a tight... hug...! But if it made her Trainer feel better... Rogue tried to return the gesture, wrapping her short arms around Raiza's neck-- carefully, so as not to slice her head into ribbons. For a while, both Trainer and Pokemon stayed that way... till Toothless leapt up to get in on the action, successfully pushing his way into the hug. On the sidelines, the Skorupi tilted her head, watching the odd group quietly. It seemed as though the Heatmor-- human... was that really what they were called?-- were going through a sort of... moody moment. And to make her feel better, everyone else was letting each other grab hold onto themselves... how weird.